artwork

The images below are screenshots of short interactive/generative artworks i’ve made using java processing during my first year at SIAT/SFU (IAT800 course) in 2006. Unfortunately, this is a perfect example of how technology ages fast and fails us, as the java *.pde files no longer work on browsers anymore, but click here to view the code if you feel you must!

holding the light on (with the cursor) will gather the moths in spirals, hovering the mouse while the light is off will send them scattered in the darkness.

typing will generate loops of text

Kitty stares at the bulb as you turn it on/off by clicking.

The random paint brush software features samosa attacks and other fun – but pretty deterministic- brushes to choose from.

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Jeddah: An interactive artwork (Flash)

The background art of this interactive artwork consist of collage art and stylized photography (of the old town of Jeddah). I wanted to portray a dystopian vision of the destruction and decay that has befallen this once beautiful town. The flash piece explored how both backgrounds and the cursor can change in accordance with the movement to foreshadow possible events based on the path you choose to go. This was project I developed during the IAT 813 Computational Poetics class I took with Maia Engeli in 2007. Below is my 1-minute madness presentation video for a poster I’ve submitted to the ICEC 2011 in Vancouver.

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architectural

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Once upon a time I was an architecture student. For my master thesis (2006), I analyzed conventional houses in Saudi Arabia and designed a building structure -based on N. J. Habraken’s support system- that would allow multiple uses of the spaces, including housing and shops.

I also worked on a few booth designs before deciding i no longer want to work in interior design and decided to pursue an academic career in relation to the film/moving images. Working for clients was simply not for me.

My bachelor of interior architecture project (2003) in which i redesigned the King Fahd library in Riyadh into an art academy.

An expo designed for various companies.

Designed back when traditionally-inspired majlises’ were “in” in Saudi Arabia. Come to think about it, they probably are still “in” for many people. Stepping back in time in a space just outside in your front yard is a pretty appealing illusion for many people.

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free-hand

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Of course, where would I be without my hand sketches, my oldest passion? Here are some of the ones I managed to save from the destruction of time. The one right below is a sketch I worked on while I was a TA in design studio for 2nd year students in 2005. The project was a mural, and a-back-then-student, Nora Saud, chose a medieval mural theme. I very much prefer my sketch before it was colored. Some things should just remain in black and white.

Below, you’ll find a hand-drawn brochure influenced by Tim Burton’s Nightmare Before Christmas, for the “life is a stranger” Muslim youth conference in Vancouver in 2009 or so (if I remember correctly). I had fun drawing the little a3rabi (bedouin) roaming the desert. It’s a Muslim conference, of course the cartoon has to wear ancient jelbaab clothing and a turban and roam around the desert! Talk about self-orientalization! Afterwards, I completely lost faith in the print medium after I saw my hours of hard-work turn into cheap print paper, thrown and stepped on by teenage conference goers. Some teens sitting in the back were reading the catch phrases mockingly, which deeply annoyed me, but taught me a lesson about the designer/audience divide. This is not to mention that I turned into an environmentalist shortly after and now oppose the killing of trees a.k.a. the use of paper unless absolutely necessary. It was the last time I’d design something to be executed in the form of disposable physical design. I’m very happy with video as a medium, thank you very much.

The design below was done before a friend told me CVs have to be formal, printable and in black and white. Nevertheless, I thought the butterfly and eye-ball flower were pretty, and had to place them here anyway.

An aborted sketch for an animation project on the forbidden fruit. I’ve always been fascinated by the many versions of the story of origin and the varying take-aways from the story -changing with times. The debate around what fruit it was fascinating to me, and here I tried to invent something that was almost an apple but not quite (the Muslim version insisted it was not an apple).

Back in 2003/2004, I was still trying to discover who I was in life-after-college. I tried to exhibit my work in a winter bazaar (later found out people only go there for the food), and an art exhibition at an “all-American” compound in Saudi Arabia. The organizer thought these sketches were too “macabre”, and I realized later that the type of art they were looking was one that fit the orientalist image of the Arabian Peninsula: the vast desert, the tent, the women in burqaa weaving baskets and the men in turbans handling falcons.

Yet other lesson about life and audience expectations. As for what happened to my sketches after my deep disappointment, I guess nothing’s too macabre for the democratic spaces of the internet -thank God. The physical sketches now hang on our corridor and living room walls at home, macabreness contained within slick IKEA frames. Mom’s either proud of her daughter’s skills, or she just wanted anything to fill the empty walls. And no they don’t even match the couches, but that’s another story.

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8-bit art

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I’ve recently become interested in animated gifs and 8-bit art. It’s an art form that requires patience, but working with the limitations is a challenge I enjoy. I might upload more in the future. After watching the lightning video [at the beginning of this post], you’ll realize, especially after having to take a course with me in motion design/video, is that I love musical videos and enjoy syncing imagery to beats. I don’t dance, but I enjoy making images do.

Yes, the camel should move its legs, but I didn’t realize how time consuming pixel art is until I actually started working on it. I had to make sacrifices, the camel ended up gliding.

This last one was cell-drawn and pixel-colored each of the 8 positions of the dancer. The background isn’t very convincing, more like Tide-ish, but I’ll make do with it for now.

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Talks + Workshops + Community Service

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Participating in a panel for Saudi Arabia in the ASBU festival of Tunesia (28 April 2018)

Talk on “Women Shaping Culture” at Al-Muhaidib Group, for Women’s Day on (8 March 2018)